(Sergio) <i>Today, we are given access
to a very rare and closed community,</i> <i>the first-ever established
religious kibbutz in Israel.</i> (man) <i>It was a very simple childhood.
There was no wealth.</i> We all wore the same
basic blue kind of clothes. (Sergio) <i>Our tour guide: Danny Herman,</i> <i>aka "Danny the Digger,"
a famous Israel archaeologist</i> <i>and a private tour guide
who calls this kibbutz his home town.</i> I, as a child, Sergio, <i>I had to come here every morning
for morning prayer</i> <i>and before going to Shabbat.</i> - (Sergio) <i>Wow!</i>
- (Danny) <i>And you stand here in the front,</i> and you are leading the prayers. (Sergio) <i>Danny is taking us
around the kibbutz</i> <i>to show us the peculiar lifestyle
as he grew up here.</i> <i>We'll go into the communal lunchroom,</i> <i>we'll take a sneak peek
at a fascinating synagogue.</i> <i>And, as a bonus,</i> <i>we are going to see some of the most
fascinating archeological discoveries</i> <i>in this area.</i> <i>Discoveries so big</i> <i>that some of them were taken
into the Museum of Israel,</i> <i>while others, the originals,</i> <i>are still hanging on the walls,
right here, for all to see.</i> (Danny) <i>They had no idea, that in 1956,</i> on a hill just facing the kibbutz, <i>they will find an ancient building</i> with a menorah in the mosaic floor. (Sergio) <i>So, join us on this adventure</i> <i>as we explore Israel's first
religious kibbutz: Tirat Zvi.</i> TIRAT ZVI
ISRAEL'S FIRST RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZ (GPS) <i>In 400 meters, turn left.</i> ♪ (music) ♪ (Sergio) <i>Oh, there he is.
I see him.</i> <i>I'll park right here.</i> - (Danny) <i>Sergio!</i>
- (Sergio) Hey, Danny. - How are you?
- (Sergio) <i>Good to see you.</i> - Hi, Rhoda. How are you?
- (Rhoda) <i>Hi. Good to see you.</i> This is really exciting, okay?
This is the kibbutz where I grew up. - I've known these fields for years--
- That's awesome. and we're gonna look at all of this now
from an archaeological perspective. So, let's do it! (Sergio) <i>So, Danny invited us
to the kibbutz that he grew up in.</i> This is a kibbutz called Tirat Zvi, and they're famous for making meat
and all kinds of products, <i>and he's taking us for lunch
in the kibbutz.</i> I've never had lunch in a kibbutz before.
This is exciting! ♪ (music) ♪ (manual car brake clicks) All right. So, how was it like
growing up in a kibbutz? (Danny) <i>For me,
it was a beautiful childhood.</i> - <i>Look at all the green grass and no cars.</i>
- (Sergio) <i>Yeah.</i> (Danny) <i>I mean, there were barely
any cars in general,</i> <i>but you didn't have any cars
driving inside the kibbutz,</i> <i>so you could go wherever you want.</i> <i>We used to play soccer a lot.</i> <i>We had a swimming pool,</i> <i>and there's no admission fee or anything.</i> <i>You know, you go to the pool
as much as you want.</i> <i>I'm surprised I don't have skin cancer,</i> <i>because we used to spend
so many hours in the swimming pool.</i> (Sergio) <i>So what is a kibbutz,</i> <i>and how is it different
from a regular village or town in Israel?</i> <i>A kibbutz is a collective community.</i> <i>It was started by the Jewish immigrants
in the early 20th century</i> <i>who bought lands from the local dwellers
and founded the kibbutzim.</i> <i>Originally, the main concept
of the kibbutz life</i> <i>was socialism, Zionism, and agriculture.</i> <i>The founders believed that there should be
no employers nor employee at all,</i> <i>and that there must
be a better way to live.</i> <i>A way in which personal wealth
does not exist.</i> (Rhoda) <i>Okay, I have
a question for you, Danny.</i> <i>Let's say somebody wants to join a kibbutz</i> who has a possession, assets,
maybe his wife has a lot of gold jewelry or I don't know what. Do they have to give their assets
to the kibbutz or can they keep them? In my time, you handed over
to the kibbutz. (Rhoda) <i>Okay.</i> But people who went to the kibbutz
in the first place - usually didn't have much to offer anyway.
- Okay. - That's why they came to the kibbutz.
- All right. It makes sense. But in theory, if you join the kibbutz, first of all, you don't
automatically get accepted. - Mm.
- You go for a period of trial. <i>Are you socially fit for us, and so on.</i> And if you do,
then everything that you own - is now kibbutz' property.
- Mm-hmm. ISRAEL STATE ARCHIVES (Sergio) <i>In the early kibbutzim,
life was communal and cooperative.</i> <i>There was no personal wealth,
everything was shared,</i> <i>and everything belonged to everyone.</i> <i>So, those who wanted
to become kibbutz members,</i> <i>had to give up their
property and possessions.</i> But, in reality, people,
especially Americans, would come with their stereo,
they would keep it. - Mm-hmm.
- I don't know about jewelry, but I do remember
that some small possessions that Americans, especially,
that joined the kibbutz, that they could keep it,
but in their home. You would not have a car. - You would not have a motorcycle.
- Okay. - Everything on the outside will be equal.
- Okay. (Sergio) <i>The kibbutz life of today
is much different.</i> <i>Over time, the structure had changed,</i> <i>allowing a much greater independence
for the members of the kibbutz</i> <i>while keeping the cultural integrity
of the community.</i> (Danny) <i>Okay.
One difference from my time,</i> - <i>now you need to pay for your lunch--</i>
- (Sergio) <i>Oh.</i> <i>even as a kibbutz member.</i> <i>But, on the other hand,</i> - anyone is invited to come for a meal.
- Oh, that's good. <i>Danny is inviting us for a lunch
at the communal dining room,</i> <i>a place where food
once used to be free.</i> <i>But after allowing the kibbutz members
to accommodate personal wealth,</i> <i>they started charging its members
the cost of food.</i> <i>Still, a relatively low price to pay
for a delicious meal.</i> (Danny) <i>This is not a complete kibbutz
if you don't have a soda machine.</i> - (Sergio) <i>You had a soda machine
in the kibbutz?</i> Yes. That was two benefits in the kibbutz. I told you, there wasn't much wealth,
but two benefits: the swimming pool,
go as much as you want, and a soda machine. (Sergio) <i>The best part about this ordeal,
is that outsiders like us</i> <i>are now allowed to dine here,
and for a marginal price.</i> (Danny) <i>Chicken schnitzel or meat loaf.</i> <i>Things have changed a bit.</i> But, is there a limit
how much you can drink? - Nope. As much as you want.
- That's unbelievable. - Here, I'm gonna demonstrate. - No.
- Okay? We're gonna fill the whole pitcher
and drink as much as we want. - And it's still here?
- It's still here. - (Sergio) <i>Wow.</i>
- (Rhoda) <i>This is awesome.</i> It's very cheap. (Danny) <i>See, Rhoda,
the one thing missing is seasoning.</i> - It's very, very plain.
- Plain. ♪ (music) ♪ (Sergio) <i>Well, this is incredible.</i> <i>This is like 50-plus shekels,</i> and you can get refills
as much as you want. You've got unlimited soda. (Danny) <i>I actually don't remember
the schnitzel to be so tasty.</i> <i>It's a pretty good schnitzel.</i> - (Rhoda) <i>Yeah, it's very good.</i>
- (Sergio) <i>It's incredible!</i> I'll tell you what.
I could eat this every day. (Rhoda) <i>I like it.
I love the salad and the corn</i> <i>and the potatoes.</i> (Sergio) <i>I would come here again.</i>
- Mm. I would too. Awesome! ♪ (music) ♪ (chuckles) "No cutting paper on Sabbath" (Sergio) <i>This kibbutz, Tirat Zvi,
is very unique.</i> <i>Founded in 1937,</i> <i>it is the first religious kibbutz in Israel.</i> <i>That's right. Not only
is it a communal social living,</i> <i>it is also religious.</i> <i>A quite rare combination.</i> <i>Out of 250-some kibbutzim in Israel,</i> <i>only 16 of them are religious,</i> <i>with Tirat Zvi being the pioneer.</i> (Danny) <i>The Kibbutz Movement,
in its essence,</i> <i>was a very secular movement.</i> It was trying to be Zionist, meaning, claiming it's our land,
by the Bible, - but separating the Bible from the religion.
- Oh. Trying to argue
it's only a historical document, and we are the people of that document,
so we have the right to live here. This kibbutz is one of a few,
just a bit more than 10 kibbutzim, which were trying also
to maintain the religious lifestyle. Mm-hmm. <i>This is fascinating.</i> <i>Because, next,
Danny is taking us to an institution</i> <i>one can rarely find in a kibbutz...</i> <i>a synagogue.</i> <i>Or in Hebrew, "beit ha-knesset,"
meaning "the House of Assembly."</i> (Danny) <i>I, as a child, Sergio,</i> <i>I had to come here every morning
for morning prayer</i> <i>and before going to Shabbat.</i> (Sergio) <i>What happens if you don't come?</i> - Ah... they don't like it.
- Oy vey? If the rumor spreads around, your teacher comes to you,
your parents come to you, - and you better show up.
- (laughing) Okay. (Danny) <i>Now, there's no one in,
so we're not disturbing anyone.</i> - <i>We can have a little peek inside.</i>
- (Sergio) <i>Wow!</i> ♪ (music) ♪ (Danny) <i>It has
a preaching stand in the middle</i> (Sergio) <i>Wow!</i> - (Danny) <i>And the orientation
is towards Jerusalem.</i> - (Sergio) <i>Okay.</i>
- (Danny) <i>And behind the parochet,</i> behind that curtain,
is where the Torah scrolls are kept. (Sergio) <i>Wow!
So the scrolls are behind the veil?</i> (Danny) <i>The holiest item
is the Torah scroll.</i> It's written in the same style
as it was 2,000 years ago. That was proven with the discovery
of the Dead Sea scrolls. And on Monday, Thursday, and Shabbat, you take it out and you read
a portion there in the middle. - (Sergio) <i>Wow.</i>
- That's the peak of the prayer. (Sergio) <i>So, the preacher stands there,</i> <i>and everybody sits around him?</i> Yes, I used to sit
with my dad right here... - Wow!
- for 12 years. And when it was my Bar Mitzvah, Sergio... I led the Friday evening services
standing here, and the whole crowd
was following my leading of the Friday evening prayers. And the next morning, I read the Torah. (Sergio) <i>Well, that's interesting.
You were not facing them, you were facing...</i> - <i>Everybody's facing...</i>
- Everyone's facing Jerusalem. (Sergio) <i>Even if you are doing the...</i> Yes. I'm reading,
and the public is replying to my call. (Sergio) <i>Oh wow. Okay.</i> (Danny) <i>Now, in front
of the entrance to the synagogue</i> - there's a little archeological display, - Ooh!
- which I couldn't care less as a child. <i>But now as a grown-up,
as an archaeologist,</i> <i>I always love watching these items.</i> <i>It includes even two milestones.</i> (Sergio) <i>For us, one of the most
fascinating parts about the synagogue</i> <i>is the incredible archaeological item</i> <i>that is hanging on the outside wall.</i> (Danny) <i>Now, in 1937,
when the kibbutz was established,</i> <i>they settled here because the land
was purchased by the Zionist Movement.</i> They had no idea that in 1956, on a hill just facing the kibbutz, <i>they will find an ancient building</i> with a menorah in the mosaic floor. I think it's the actual one. (Sergio) <i>(speaking Hebrew)</i> (Danny) <i>I think it's the actual one.</i>
(Sergio) <i>It's the actual one.</i> (Danny) <i>And that means</i> that they didn't just settle in this land
because it was purchased. They settled in this land
because it was their <i>ancestral</i> land. And what proves it better
than finding an ancient synagogue in the fields of the kibbutz? Okay? This is one of those moments when you see why the Jews
have struggled to cultivate this land, because it's really returning
to biblical and ancestral land. Nothing gets better than this. (Sergio) <i>This is the most incredible
archaeological find we've seen lately.</i> <i>But this isn't the only gem
in this kibbutz,</i> <i>as Danny is taking us
just across the street</i> <i>to show us more ancient
and monumental finds.</i> <i>Whoa!</i> (Danny) <i>They would mark
the distance from place to place</i> by having a mark every <i>millus passus</i>, every 1,000 double steps. - It's called a milestone.
- This is the milestone? - (Danny) <i>Yes.</i>
- (Sergio) <i>A milestone?</i> <i>Rhoda and I heard about these for years,</i> <i>but we've never seen one in real life.</i> <i>I've never seen one!</i> It's so amazing thinking... people did these and carved them <i>and worked on them in the ancient times.</i> (Sergio) <i>Milestones
were originally stone pillars</i> <i>made from granite, marble,
or whatever local stone was available.</i> <i>They were widely used by the Romans
to mark distances between cities.</i> <i>In the center of Rome
they erected the Golden Milestone</i> <i>that marked the center
of the Roman Empire.</i> <i>And even though the Golden Milestone
has since been lost,</i> <i>numerous other milestones
have been found throughout the empire,</i> <i>including one that stood
right here, in Tirat Zvi,</i> <i>marking the sixth mile from Beit She'an,</i> <i>a city that is also known
by the name of Scythopolis.</i> (Danny) <i>Here it says
that you're in the sixth mile</i> from Scythopolis. - (Sergio) (gasps)
- What is Scythopolis? - Beit She'an.
- Beit She'an. Okay? So this is telling you the information, but most of it is imperial propaganda, presenting Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus Pius Augustus, all the descendants of Augustus
and all their victories. They remind you who's the boss. So, wherever you are on the roads,
Marcus Aurelius is the boss. I've almost got goose bumps.
I've never seen a milestone. <i>I was reading about them.
I know where they were supposed to be.</i> - <i>Is this the real one?</i>
- (Danny) <i>It's the real one.</i> It's the actual one. They went over the paint,
but it's the actual one. - Yes.
- Is it? Okay. Okay? But forget that. In Tel Shalem, in 1976,
an American tourist, who was the brother
of the nurse in my dad's clinic, found a bust, <i>half a body, in bronze,
of the Emperor Hadrian.</i> (Sergio) <i>Whoa!</i> This is an amazing, amazing discovery. I remember, as a child,
when it was on display right here. - The real spot was here?
- And it was moved to the Israel Museum, and it's on prime display, to this day,
at the Israel Museum. - (Sergio) <i>The Hadrian sculpture?</i>
- (Danny) <i>The Hadrian bust. It's called "bust."</i> - (Sergio) <i>It was found here?</i>
- (Danny) <i>Yes.</i> Okay? Who knows what else is hiding
in the vicinity of this kibbutz. Right? Somebody needs to excavate this. Somebody needs to come here
and continue the work. Totally. (Sergio) <i>Today, we had a chance
to see fascinating archeology,</i> <i>a synagogue,
and step into the kibbutz life.</i> <i>A life which might not
be suitable for everyone,</i> <i>as it takes away some
of your freedom and individuality,</i> <i>but it was done for the sake
of the community.</i> <i>Some might even argue
that this lifestyle, and this very place,</i> <i>was essential for the establishment
of this country.</i> <i>And despite the hardships
that the parents had to endure,</i> <i>this place offered something utopian
for the children that grew up here.</i> (Danny) <i>Many times I've said
it was a very simple childhood.</i> <i>There was no wealth.</i> <i>We all wore the same
basic blue kind of clothes.</i> <i>But there was a lot of joy.</i> <i>There was a lot of
good childhood memories here.</i> (Sergio) <i>Wow.</i> <i>And while this episode
is coming to an end,</i> <i>we are not done here.</i> <i>Next time, Danny is taking us
behind the borders of the kibbutz,</i> <i>into the countryside,
in a search after a very unique place.</i> - You can't even see the water.
- (Sergio) <i>This is the natural spring, then.</i> <i>A place so hidden that most people
don't know it even exists.</i>
